Sport not only improves our physical health, but also greatly enhances our psychological well-being. A compilation of the benefits of physical activity on our mental health.
Sports and physical activity in general help us stay healthy. Regular physical exercise helps fight many diseases, including diabetes, obesity and heart problems. In addition, doing sports frequently we have a more toned body, with a lower percentage of fat, more muscle mass and healthier bones, signs of health and having an attractive body.
But in addition to helping us physically, exercise helps us psychologically. Next we will discover what are the psychological benefits that physical activity and sport bring us.
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The psychological benefits associated with exercise and sport
No one doubts that sport and physical exercise in general are the best ways to combat health problems, in addition to keeping us in shape and delaying the onset of all kinds of diseases. Performing between 120 and 150 minutes a week of moderate physical activity, preferably in about 3 or 4 sessions, reduces the risk of problems such as obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular diseases.
But, in addition to keeping us physically healthy, sport has positive repercussions for our mental well-being. We feel relieved, relaxed, have better concentration and even feel more optimistic. Along with this, possessing a lean, muscular and toned body is something that helps us to see well with ourselves, being happy with how we see ourselves in the mirror. So, we can imagine that there are many psychological benefits that physical activity and sport bring us, benefits that we will see below.
1. Reduce mental fatigue
Engaging in frequent physical activity not only increases physical performance, but also makes us less vulnerable to mental fatigue. Practicing any sport helps that, in the long run, we can spend more time doing any activity without getting tired psychologically, which makes us make fewer mistakes and take longer to lose concentration.
2. Reduce symptoms of depression and stress
If a single session of physical exercise already makes us feel good, reducing the feeling of stress and encouraging us emotionally, transforming it into a daily or weekly habit contributes to a significant reduction in thesymptoms of depressionand stress.
Whileit must be understood that these psychological problems must be treated by going to a professional, it should be noted that the practice of sport is highly recommended because it makes the person feel more energetic, manage to disconnect from their worries and feel optimistic, even euphoric: it makes us happier.
After a session of physical activity you feel a state of high well-being thanks to the brain releasing chemicals, including endorphins, that make us feel better. These benefits are especially useful if the exercise session is done at the beginning or middle of the day. Another important aspect to keep in mind is that the practice of frequent sports makes us have fewer sleep problems, a risk factor for mental disorders. That is, exercising makes us sleep well and, consequently, we do not suffer from psychopathologies.
3. Improves self-esteem
On the one hand, exercise improves our self-esteem because doing it frequently our body will begin to change pleasantly: we will gain muscle, lose weight and be more toned. By seeing ourselves better in the mirror we will have a reason to feel good about ourselves, increasing our self-esteem as a result.
On the other hand, the frequent practice of exercise improves our self-esteem indirectly because, as more sessions we comply, we will see that we are people who can follow a commitmentand face laziness, reluctance and fear.
4. It makes us take healthier habits
Being physically active motivates us to follow healthier habits. Many people, when they get serious about practicing a new sport, begin to reduce the consumption of unhealthy foods, opting for a healthy and varied diet. This decision is made because, taking advantage of the fact that they have started a new healthy habit, they transfer it to the rest of their lives.
Sport makes us take healthier habits, not only consuming healthier foods but also reducing or completely eliminating bad habits, especially the consumption of alcohol and tobacco. In fact, many people have managed to quit smoking or have become disengaged from an addiction when they have started going to the gym or have signed up for a football team. Sport makes them have the willpower to let go of their vices.
5. Improve sociability
Doing sports can improve our sociability in different ways. On the one hand we have the fact that many sports are team sports or involve having to interact with other people, such as going to the gym, doing football or basketball, boxing, running…
All these activitiesallow us to establish contact with people who share the same hobbies as us and have new friends. Social relationships take us away from isolation, one of the main risk factors for mental disorders.
But it also turns out that “solitary” sports help us to have a better sociability. Any physical activity implies changes at the physical level and, consequently, an increase in self-esteem. By having greater self-esteem we become more confident and determined people, which makes us lose the fear of talking to people, in addition to becoming more extroverted and socially attractive people. Sport, no matter how solitary it is, predisposes us to social contact.
6. Prevents cognitive diseases
Sport protects us from cognitive diseases, especially in old age. In fact, regular exercise stimulates the brain and promotes brain plasticity in the same way as activities such as doing a sudoku, learning to play an instrument or learning a new language. This habit contributes to the formation of new interneuronal connectionsand, in case of a neurodegenerative disease, the patient will take longer to manifest the first symptoms.
7. Improves learning and memory
Related to the previous point, by frequently activating our brain and producing more connections between neurons, the ability to learn and memory is favored. Thanks to this we have a greater cognitive performance, something that will benefit us in tasks that apparently do not have much to do with doing sports, such as studying in high school or preparing a report for our work.
People who practice weekly sports have better concentration, in addition to learning faster and attending better in any context. Together with this, they are more creative and savvy people and, also, have better academic performance and greater work performance. That is, practicing sports regularly will make us more likely to succeed in life.
What neurobiological explanation is behind it?
The reason why sport is a good ally for our mental health has been well studied and, although a well-defined biological mechanism has not yet been found, there is some biochemical evidence that sport protects us against mental disorders, especially depression and anxiety disorders. However, it should be stressed thatsport in itself does not cure mental disorders, but it does reduce their symptoms.
Depression is a problem that affects 44 million people at some point in their lives, and is associated with a significant degree of disability, high medical comorbidity and high public health costs; In addition, it can lead to premature mortality. Understanding all this, it is extremely necessary and urgent to design plans to prevent this disorder from appearing and worsening, focusing especially on what is a highly modifiable risk factor, that is, aspects of the person or their environment that can be changed and prevent depression from occurring.
A 2018 meta-analysis gave solid evidence of the relationship between the practice of regular physical activity with the reduction of depressive symptoms, giving strength to reduce the effects associated with this disorder to apply programs to promote an active life would be a very good strategy. It is known that structured physical activity reduces depressive symptoms and, as it is a highly modifiable factor, it has been tried to introduce psychological therapy, especially taking into account that about 50% of patients with major depression do not reach 120 minutes of weekly exercise.
In their meta-analysis, Schuch and colleagues analyzed 49 studies and concluded that, while there is a minimum of exercise that implies benefits at the psychological level (120-150 minutes per week) the more physical activity you do, the better for our brain. As long as it is not an impact sport and can cause chronic traumatic encephalopathy, such as boxing or hockey without proper protection, sport has positive repercussions for our mental health and protects us from disorders.
In the specific case of depression, it is believed that there are several biochemical and psychosocial factors that are responsible for sport protecting us from depression or, at least, reducing the associated symptoms. As the degree of physical activity is one of the few potentially modifiable risk factors, unlike genetics or environment, it has become crucialto encourage sports among patients with depression.
The biological mechanisms that are modified with the performance of sport are several, the most important being the increase of neurogenesis and the reduction of inflammatory and oxidant markers. In addition, physical activity activates the endocannabinoid system, which gives us a sense of psychological well-being, with chemical effects similar to the well-being that some people feel after inhaling marijuana.
Another thing that has been found between depression and sports has to do with the hippocampus. People with depression have a lower hippocampal volume, in addition to their levels of neurogenesis markers are reduced and inflammatory and oxidant markers increased. Physical activity may reduce these abnormalities, counteracting depression by increasing hippocampal volume and making healthy levels of these different markers.
The importance of integrating exercise into our lives
Taking into account everything we have said about its benefits, it could be said that doing sports is the best way to obtain happiness hormones, improve our self-esteem, cognitive performance and social skills. Its benefits on a psychological level are achievable by anyone, as long as they do not suffer from any physical problem that prevents them from doing sports. For this reason and taking into account how easy it is to enjoy its advantages, sport is something that we must introduce into our daily lives.
But despite all its physical and psychological benefits, the truth is that many people do not see it as something pleasant, but as one more task to add in their busy daily lives. Our lifestyle makes it difficult for us to start any sports activity and, on many occasions, we see it more as an obligation than as a health practice that offers us well-being and happiness. It is because of this vision that many begin to exercise but soon stop it.
Therefore, in order to integrate it satisfactorily into our lives, it is very important to ask ourselves why we exercise before practicing it, in addition to deciding what is the best sports activity for us. Whether to lose weight, be toned, be muscular, relax or have funwe must see sport not as an obligation or a task, but a source of well-being, synonymous with having a longer and healthier life physically and mentally.
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To the classic question “what do you do?” I always answer “basically I am a psychologist”. In fact, my academic training has revolved around the psychology of development, education and community, a field of study influenced my volunteer activities, as well as my first work experiences in personal services.